Beautiful life in italian. Beautiful lasagna, YUM!
My mother always told me it was so hard and time consuming to make lasagna from scratch. “All the cheese and the sauce,..I’d prefer to buy it pre made.” Well, if you are a little health conscious and are looking to enjoy a nice meal with the family that doesn’t involve a frozen dinner and doesn’t have to take all your time, here are my 5 steps to a fast, homemade beautiful dinner.
Step 1 Head to Trader Joe’s or any other supermarket chain and pick up a few items:(I doubled the amount in the picture because I made one ground meat and one ground turkey.)
I love Trader Joe’s mixed cheese blend Parmesan, Romano, & Asiago Cheese. I get a couple of those and mix that in with Ricotta, Trader Giotto’s Traditional Fresh Ricotta. Depending on the size of lasagna you are preparing to make, unless you have some kind of dairy condition, or are lactose. You can skip this step, and make a cheese-less lasagna. But for others that enjoy their dairy, You can never have too much cheese. Remember you will be layering the cheese. Add cottage cheese to the mix and thats all the cheese you’ll need. Add some dashes of shredded parmesan to the final product on top, this will be your final step to give it a little crispy brown look.
I buy the non-boil lasagna pasta noodle, Barilla and Kroger are great brands. You don’t have to spend too much on pasta. Their noodles are nice and thin and there is no Pre-Boiling to worry about.
As for the meat, you can do grounded anything, turkey, meat, or even chicken. You can even go meatless and just have a layer with cheese and sauce. I haven’t tried chicken, but I’m sure it’ll be a different but beautiful taste. I have used grounded meat and turkey.
Don’t forget the pasta sauce. You can go with any kind you like. I prefer Classico tomato sauce, they come in varieties, like Basil and Garlic. They even have a meat sauce. I also love that they come in a mason jar, so at the end, I wash and rinse and get to reuse to mason jar for anything.
Step 2 Cook the grounded turkey or meat on a skillet/pan on top of the stove on medium. Let it simmer with a dash of olive oil until it browns, or so you know it is cook throughly. Add sauce and let simmer.
Step 3 Mix the cheese blend. That mix of parmesan, romano and asiago along with the ricotta and cottage cheese in a big bowl.
Step 4 In a long oven pan, layer the non-boil pasta noodles add your cheese blend alternating with the meat and sauce from the pan. Make sure you have enough of the cheese blend to cover the top and final pasta noodle or meat, drizzle some shredded parmesan cheese on top. (You can have the fiancé help as well)
Step 5 Place in the oven at 375 degrees and let cook for 25 minutes, once cooked let stand and cool for 15 minutes.
Enjoy!
(I doubled the amount in the picture because I made one ground meat and one ground turkey.)
I love Trader Joe’s mixed cheese blend Parmesan, Romano, & Asiago Cheese. I get a couple of those and mix that in with Ricotta, Trader Giotto’s Traditional Fresh Ricotta. Depending on the size of lasagna you are preparing to make, unless you have some kind of dairy condition, or are lactose. You can skip this step, and make a cheese-less lasagna. But for others that enjoy their dairy, You can never have too much cheese. Remember you will be layering the cheese. Add cottage cheese to the mix and thats all the cheese you’ll need. Add some dashes of shredded parmesan to the final product on top, this will be your final step to give it a little crispy brown look.
I buy the non-boil lasagna pasta noodle, Barilla and Kroger are great brands. You don’t have to spend too much on pasta. Their noodles are nice and thin and there is no Pre-Boiling to worry about.
As for the meat, you can do grounded anything, turkey, meat, or even chicken. You can even go meatless and just have a layer with cheese and sauce. I haven’t tried chicken, but I’m sure it’ll be a different but beautiful taste. I have used grounded meat and turkey.
Don’t forget the pasta sauce. You can go with any kind you like. I prefer Classico tomato sauce, they come in varieties, like Basil and Garlic. They even have a meat sauce. I also love that they come in a mason jar, so at the end, I wash and rinse and get to reuse to mason jar for anything. 
Step 2 Cook the grounded turkey or meat on a skillet/pan on top of the stove on medium. Let it simmer with a dash of olive oil until it browns, or so you know it is cook throughly. Add sauce and let simmer. 
Step 3 Mix the cheese blend. That mix of parmesan, romano and asiago along with the ricotta and cottage cheese in a big bowl.
Step 4 In a long oven pan, layer the non-boil pasta noodles add your cheese blend alternating with the meat and sauce from the pan. Make sure you have enough of the cheese blend to cover the top and final pasta noodle or meat, drizzle some shredded parmesan cheese on top. (You can have the fiancé help as well)
Step 5 Place in the oven at 375 degrees and let cook for 25 minutes, once cooked let stand and cool for 15 minutes.
Enjoy!